


demon in my view

by leradny



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: A Very Special Halloween Story, Gen, about an amoral spirit who fiddles with your life for money, not SCARY SCARY JUMP SCARE horror but i'd just feel uncomfortable, personally, really lightweight horror, with a demon trapped in a statue under my house
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:46:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27294400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leradny/pseuds/leradny
Summary: Zelda knew not what woke her until she used the sense she had only just begun to explore, the attunement which her goddess-blood felt towards life energy. She felt something tugging at her mind. The source was low, at the shore of Firly Pond. When Zelda found it, she stared at the horned statue in front of her.It stared back, surprised."Hylia." Then it grinned with stone teeth. "Still blonde, I see."
Comments: 3
Kudos: 52





	demon in my view

It was a night like any other in Hateno.

Restless crickets chirped in the pre-dawn gloom. Zelda knew not what woke her until she used the sense she had only just begun to explore, the attunement which her goddess-blood felt towards life energy. She felt something tugging at her mind. Casting an eye to Link beside her, she found him sound asleep. For a moment she debated on whether to wake him or not. While not entirely a good thing, it certainly wasn't as harmful as Malice. She had the impression of a puddle which might be deeper than she thought.

She decided to be cautious. Whatever bore the energy, it seemed reasonably close, and Link would wake if she called. So she rose, taking her closest pair of shoes and borrowing Link's warm doublet. For some reason she liked it better than her own coat. It made her feel safer somehow.

Then she traced her way out of the house. The source was low, at the shore of Firly Pond. When Zelda found it, she stared at the horned statue in front of her.

It stared back, surprised.

"Hylia." Then it grinned with stone teeth. "Still blonde, I see."

While her goddess-blood remembered who this was and answered, it came out filtered through her own voice in a tone Zelda liked to think of as archly disapproving. Urbosa called it snippy. "Still meddling with people's lives in exchange for money, _I_ see."

"Your Hero appreciated my services," the spirit sneered.

In a flash, both her political mind and her goddess-blood found themselves in rather a tight spot. No matter how much her goddess-blood seethed at the immorality of exchanging money for power or life, he had in fact aided the Hero of Hyrule in his quest to defeat Calamity Ganon. Perhaps it had dared to chose someone with a destiny so entwined with Hylia that she would be obliged to reward it personally in some way, and the most obvious choice was its freedom.

But she had to think carefully. Words, her goddess-blood whispered, were nearly as important to spirits as the power behind them. On that her political training agreed.

"It is true that you have aided my Hero."

"Yes, very true."

"Yet it is also true that to alter a gift is rude at best; when the gift was given by a divine power, it becomes blasphemy. You have perverted the blessings given to mortals by myself and the Golden Goddesses, for which I punished you with entrapment in this form. How can I be assured that you will not do the same, and thus be sealed again?"

"I give you my word," the spirit said. "My word that my services harm no one, any more than a change of clothes or a piece of jewelry hinders or helps the wearer. I meant no rudeness--no perversion nor blasphemy! Did I not give them the same choices as you did?"

Zelda would have rolled her eyes if the situation was not so tenuous.

"In exchange for money," she reminded the statue. "As you did for my Hero, undoubtedly!" The back of her hand glowed; she saw Link stopping to pray by the statue and having some of his life force sapped away. "This service merited imprisonment a century ago, yet now you demand I reward you for doing exactly the same thing! What reason could you possibly have for it?"

"Because without my aid _this time_ , you and all Hyrule would have been lost to the Calamity!"

She frowned and crossed her arms. That was true. She had to reward it somehow. And yet she could not let the spirit go completely untethered.

"I will give you freedom of movement in exchange for one thing," Zelda decided.

It narrowed its eyes. "What?"

"My mark, which would allow you to communicate with me, and I to you."

"A leash and collar!" the spirit growled. "Will you change me to the form of a dog as well?"

"That would be an insult to dogs," Zelda said. "They are loyal, and you have no loyalty to anyone save yourself and your greed. Freedom of movement in exchange for my mark now, or remain in that statue for another century and my next incarnation shall reevaluate your behavior."

"Tyrannic shrew! Nag!" The statue hissed and writhed in its prison of stone, speaking in tongues that pricked painfully at Zelda's ears. "The first of your incarnations was such a sweet thing! Ah, but a thousand mortal lives has made you bitter! Worse than wormwood!"

"The first? You remember my past incarnations?"

Oh, how she had hated reading the histories of her ancestors--at least the ones recorded. The Princess of Twilight was depicted with an expression that was equal parts mournful and knowing. It didn't seem like she had ever went through an awkward phase but simply appeared fully grown, tall, slender and effortlessly elegant, brown hair cascading down her back and grey eyes piercing. But even while Zelda hated reading about them, she sought them out anyway to try awakening her power, and she was still frustrated when there was no knowledge of a certain era.

Here there was a being who had known of Zelda's ancestors while they were still alive. Even if it had not met them personally, what could she learn from it!

She asked, "What do you know of them?"

"So that is your desire--knowledge! What shall you give for it, I wonder?"

Zelda realized she was getting ahead of herself and bit down on the urge, because she had no money of her own after all. "Don't concern yourself with it. I have no money, so I could not--"

"A trifle. What need has a goddess for money?" The demon dismissed it. "You and I are not of this earth, so let us barter with unearthly coin."

"Such as what?"

"Free me, Hylia, and I shall give you the knowledge you seek!"

Zelda's right hand was outstretched before she knew it. The demon grinned wider than ever and she realized she was being deceived almost too late--the Triforce on her hand shone.

" _No!_ "

Her shout echoed across the water. She whipped around, clutching her traitorous hand and ignoring the spirit's cries--"Wait, Hylia, wait! Come back! I--" A flurry of motion from the house; a light came on. Zelda fled up, up the muddy banks of the pond which looked so serene from the top of the cliff. Her shoes clattered on the wooden stairs cut into the hillside next to the model houses and Link came out, half-dressed with a plain sword at his hip.

"Zelda!" He ushered her inside, taking a look out of the door before shutting it tight. "What's wrong, what happened--?"

"Link!" She fell into Link's arms, trembling. "Oh, Link, there is a demon under your house!"

"A demon--" His eyes grew wide with recognition. "The statue! I'm sorry! I would have told you about it, but--" His words came out in a desperate outpour. "The first time I drew the Master Sword, the Great Deku tree stopped me before it drained all my life away, and I couldn't find another shrine. But then I found that statue, so I traded some of my strength for more life." He stroked her hair. "I'm sorry, Zelda--I forgot all about it. I changed it back as soon as I could. If--if that matters."

"That's perfectly fine," she said, but she couldn't bring herself to let go of Link, to ensure he really was all right and unchanged. "I don't blame you."

"Hylia, come back!" the spirit cried, far below them. It sounded piteous now that she had left it, thin and weak, straining to be heard. "Forgive my insult, forgive my deception!"

Zelda looked to Link, whose blue eyes were still on her. He looked behind him, unsure. "Do you hear it, Link?"

"No."

"I'll offer naught else if only you free me now!" it babbled. Zelda closed her eyes and buried her face in Link's shoulder. "I'll take your mark and bear it gladly, Hylia! Only don't leave me another hundred years in this stone! Oh, Mistress of the Golden Realm, mercy--mercy! My soul is swollen with tears I cannot shed--"

She stopped her ears. Link put a hand behind her back and the other under her knees and carried her back to bed. She shivered next to him, unable to bear the thought of relaxing her arms the slightest bit in case she heard the spirit again. She only felt safe enough to fall asleep when Link took a Rito scarf and wound it around her head and hands, tying it tight.

Zelda awoke that morning to find Link had already removed the scarf. The house was filled with the smell of sunshroom omelette and fried fish. She heard nothing. Link was out, but couldn't be far--everything was still warm. She felt almost cheerful, until Link came back just as she finished breakfast.

"I told it to let you sleep and you might feel like negotiating later," Link said. "I didn't say how much later. You can take your time."

Zelda took the afternoon to collect herself. She avoided looking down when she crossed the bridge and as she browsed the shops, Link hovered at her elbow.

"Bad dreams?" Ivee asked as she swept the threshold. For lack of a better answer, Zelda nodded. She hiked up the hill to Purah's lab and listened to theories about the Sheikah Slate and the Guardians.

Only when her nerves had completely settled did she return to Firly Pond. Link stood behind her with the Master Sword on his back. Fear and desperation roiled off the spirit like steam from a pot; if it were anything less than stone it would have quivered. Zelda stood in front of the statue and rested a hand on its horned head.

"As token of my gratitude for aiding the Hero, I would give you freedom of movement in exchange for my mark. Shall you take it?"

"So be it, Goddess Hylia," the demon said wearily.

She closed her eyes and a glow spread from her right hand. The demon stretched its incorporeal form, rising as a blurry silhouette of mist and shadow to its full height, taller than a Gerudo with a spindly, sharp silhouette. The Triforce glowed, affixed to its chest. The spirit looked at the statue, hissed, and dashed a clawed hand across the chest to make its former prison crumble to pieces.

Zelda clutched Link's doublet about her. She expected the demon to disappear at once--but to her surprise, it simply turned to her with something that might have been a sigh in a creature of flesh. "How the years have passed. Hyrule flourished and fell and will flourish again. Never the same kingdom twice. We are all of us shades of our former selves."

Link drew nearer, one hand on the Master Sword. The spirit laughed.

"Lay down your sword, Hero. I may be bound to the Goddess now, but I shudder to think of following her as closely as _you_. By your leave, Hylia."

It disappeared.

Zelda tested the connection she had forged--a bright, glowing thing like a single unbreakable thread. She sighed and picked up a piece of the statue. Without the imprisoned spirit, it was ordinary stone now. She'd feel better if it was in the water, though. But that was a task for tomorrow, she felt.

**Author's Note:**

> as i said, there's a demon living under link's house and like.... stays there? and in 200% of post game fics the current incarnation of hylia, who imprisoned it 100 years ago, lives in link's house??????


End file.
